JOEL OLADELE, Abuja The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar has stated that economic interests, not faith or tribal ties, are the primary drivers of insecurity in the Sahel region of Africa. The countries in the Sahel region include; Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea Mauritania, Mali, Niger,...
ECOWAS
The ECOWAS Court of Justice has nullified the dismissal of Mr Momodu Cham, a former staff of the Commission, saying it breached Article 69 of the ECOWAS staff regulations. Cham had filed the suit following his dismissal from his position as a Procurement Officer with the Inter-Governmental Action...
ECOWAS has held countless high-level meetings, including regular and extraordinary summits by regional leaders on peace and security issues since the renewed military incursions in politics in the politically restive West African region in 2020. The Abuja summit on Sunday 7th July is no exception. On Saturday 6th July, ahead...
The Nigeria Army on Wednesday, announced the deployment of 177 personnel for a peace keeping mission in Guinea-Bissau. The Chief of Operations, Nigerian Army, Maj.-Gen. Boniface Sinjen, made the announcement at the graduation ceremony of troops of Nigerian Company 3 ECOWAS Stabilization Support Mission in Guinea-Bissau, at Martin...
GIABA, an inter-governmental action group against money laundering in West Africa, has said Nigeria recorded significant achievements in its war against money laundering and terrorism financing in 2023. GIABA said this in its 2023 annual report unveiled for ambassadors of member states, technical and financial partners on Thursday...
By JOEL OLADELE, Abuja – A three-day cross-border surveillance meeting opened in Abuja on Wednesday with participants expressing concerns about the porous border between Nigeria and Niger, which facilitates the movement of people, goods, and contaminants. Participants at the meeting noted that the Republic of Niger and...
JOEL OLADELE, Abuja As part of efforts to strengthen public health systems and combat disease outbreaks, Nigeria and Niger Republic organized a 3-Day Cross-Border Surveillance meeting, initiated by the West Africa Health Organization (WAHO). The meeting, which kicked off in Abuja, on Tuesday brought together health experts and officials...
Senegal will host a conference on Saturday, 1 June under the theme “The Alliance of Sahel States, a new platform for Senegal’s regional integration,” a development that could have potential implications on the unity and cohesion among ECOWAS member States, according to diplomatic sources. In an ironic but provocative...
Months after exiting the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have finalised plans to form a new confederation, the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES ), marking a geopolitical shift in the region. This move showed their departure from their former...
Nigeria’s late Professor Adebayo Adedeji and Togo’s Edem (Kodjovi) Kodjo would likely be turning in their graves in disappointment if not utter shock at what has become of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which they laboured with others to establish in 1975. After its civil war...
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says it is working to set up a counter terrorism force to tackle security threats within the sub-region. The Commissioner Political Affairs, Peace and Security of ECOWAS, Amb. Abdel-Fatau Musah, stated this at the opening of a three-day consultative meeting of...
By PAUL EJIME – The international community, particularly ECOWAS and the African Union have been passive or at best non-committal towards events leading up to Togo’s 29 April 2024 Parliamentary and Regional elections, which were overshadowed by controversial constitutional and electoral reforms, with potentially far-reaching consequences. Parliamentary elections are...
By PAUL EJIME – Nigeria’s former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, who was instrumental in the formation of ECOMOG, the regional Ceasefire Monitoring Group set up by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to end the civil war in Liberia, has made a strong case for...
When former President Macky Sall shook hands and handed the mantle of leadership to his successor President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Senegal’s 5th, and youngest, on the 2nd of April 2024, he might have wondered what could have been, the “what ifs” and “if onlys.” After serving as Prime Minister and...
President Bola Tinubu has called on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to consider electing its members directly through universal suffrage, instead of doing so through national parliaments. The President made this known at the inauguration of the 6th Legislature of the ECOWAS parliament on Thursday...
President Bola Tinubu has directed the opening of Nigeria’s land and air borders with the Republic of Niger and the lifting of other sanctions against that country with immediate effect. This directive is in compliance with the decisions of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government...
The Director-General, West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), Dr Olorunsola Olowofeso, says expectation for an ECOWAS Single Currency by 2027 is no longer realistic. Oluwafeso, who said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja, said this was due to the inability...
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has said member countries are currently facing a clear and present danger in the form of transnational terrorism. ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security, Amb. Abdel-Fatau Musah, said this at a news conference in Abuja on Friday....
The rapprochement of the Economic Commission of West African States, ECOWAS, with the three countries that recently quit the regional body namely, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, is such a welcome development. But many more rivers to cross before the conflict in the 15-member sub-continental body will be...
BY ANKELI EMMANUEL, Sokoto – Coalition of Civil Society Organizations under the auspices of the West Africa Coalition Against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (WACTIPSOM) has commended the decision of Economic Community of West Africans States (ECOWAS) to lift the ban placed on Mali, the Republic...